For some reason the topic of geese and/or fears has come up multiple times in the last few days. For me, these two topics are related because my one fear is geese. This fear stems from a slice of life that took place at the Brookfield Zoo, three or four years ago…

My son and I were siting on a bench by the fountain, minding our business. We were playing with the toys he just got from the gift shop, some little plastic animals that cost at least three times what they would at another store.

Suddenly these geese started slowly approaching us. I noticed them, but figured they would be uninterested because we didn’t have food. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to care about the lack of food. The evil birds continued approaching us until they were pecking at my leg and our backpack.

I pushed the backpack in between the geese and my son, telling him to run. (This may seem overly dramatic, however this is what happened.) Once he got away, I climbed backwards over the bench and ran to where my son had stopped. I grabbed his hand and we walked quickly far, far away from any winged creatures. And my fear of geese was born…

This fear has only multiplied due to other near attacks by geese, but those are slices for another day!